Doctor's Orders
by Daxean
Summary: One-shot that tells my version of the first kiss between Nico di Angelo and Will Solace.


[Disclaimer: Will Solace, Nico di Angelo and Percy Jackson belong to Rick Riordan, used only for entertainment]

[Sorry if any mistake, English is not my mother language]

The sunlight kissing the surface of the lake was pleasant to look at. Much better than looking directly to the sun, for sure; although he still preferred the pale moonlight at night.

However, one of the drawbacks of living in the camp was keeping up with the schedule, which he never had to do when he was on his own, and which meant that he would operate in the hours of light, leaving the night to rest. Sometimes he still felt the urge to runaway; he had thought for so long that he was an outcast, that his fate was to be a renegade, that he still had to adjust his mind to the fact that this was his home now.

The head counselor's meetings were daily, sometimes even twice a day. A week after the roman's departure, still many things had to be arranged and organized. It had been a non-stop week, but things seemed to be, slowly, getting back to normal. At least, as normal as they could get in a demigod's camp.

He had to admit that having a place to call home was nice for a change. It was great, after so many hard times, to have a bed to rest and good food to eat.

He hadn't heard from his father, but nor had any other demigod. He didn't exactly know if that was good or bad. He imagined, though, that if the camp was messy and everyday meetings were necessary, Olympus would be a complete and utter chaos.

Despite all the good feelings, despite the fact that the other demigods treated him with new respect and he felt somehow part of the family, despite all the attention he got, especially from younger campers eager to hear his story; he still felt somewhat uneasy at Camp Half-Blood. Besides, he missed Jason, Reyna and Hazel terribly. A letter had come, signed by the three of them, in which they told him how things were going in Camp Jupiter and what a chaos it was. It would be a while until they could come to visit.

It was strange to miss a friend. He had never had someone to miss, other than Bianca, but this kind of missing was different. It wasn't cold, cutting and painful, but warm and hopeful. It was a nice change.

It was all about nice changes lately, that was good. Maybe his father's wish would be fulfilled and he could actually be happy. Maybe.

The sound of steps brought him out of his thoughts. He turned his head and saw Percy, coming towards him, his head down and his hands in the pockets of a pair of Hawaiian shorts. It was another nice change, not feeling the icy stab in the chest whenever he saw the son of Poseidon.

'Hey', he said.

'Hey', Nico said back, turning his head again to the blue waters.

Percy went into the lake without another word, standing with the waters up to his knees. It was a pleasant sensation, but Nico thought that for him, being son of the god of waters, it would be much more comfortable.

'I miss them', said Percy, looking to the horizon. 'After all this time, everything being so calm and not having them around is weird. Not that I'm complaining, but…'

Nico looked at him. He hesitated for a second, but he finally decided to answer.

'I miss them too.'

Percy turned his head to look at him, with a little gleam of surprise in his eyes, as if he hadn't expected him to answer. The demigod walked towards him and, after a second of doubt, sat next to him. Nico felt a little awkward for how close they were, but he didn't say anything.

'I think I haven't thanked you yet.'

'What for?'

Jackson blinked a few times, perplexed.

'Saving all of us? Pushing yourself to the limit to fulfill your mission? C'mon dude! You deserve some credit! We'd all be dead if it weren't for you. You… you are a true hero.'

'Thanks.'

'Do not thank me when I'm thanking you!'

The two of them remained in comfortable silence for a while.

'I'm really glad you decided to stay. I know I haven't been the best of friends to you but… I appreciate you. And I'm really happy that you are here, I mean it.'

Nico smiled as a response, and he didn't even had to force it, it came out naturally, easily. This was another nice change.

Percy smirked and glanced at him before speaking again.

'So… you had a crush on me…'

'Don't ever bring that up again unless you want the sword of some Independence War zombie soldier in your chest'.

'Ok, so… what about now? I'm not your type, so… I guess your type is more… tan, blond, blue eyes, son of Apollo…?'

'I don't know what you're talking about', answered Nico, turning his gaze to the horizon again.

'C'mon. I'm no son of Aphrodite, but I'm not blind either. I can ask Pipes what she thinks about it, if you want, just to make sure…'

'Don't. You. Dare.'

'Ok, ok, but…'

'Look, I understand that you want to make it up to me, but I don't feel comfortable talking about these things, especially with you. Hope you can understand.'

'Yeah, right, sorry'.

Percy looked down to the sand and started to draw random lines with his fingers. He seemed a little down and Nico felt a little guilty. He was just trying to be his friend, and talking about these things is what friends did. Right?

'No wonder Annabeth calls you seaweed brain', he joked.

Percy made a little snort, which at least was something. Enough for Nico anyway. The son of Poseidon opened his mouth, probably to add something or to shoot a comeback, but a new sound of steps made them both to turn their heads.

The athletic figure of Will Solace stood there, carrying a guitar and whistling, with the sunlight making his golden hair seem like a bright halo around his tanned face. Nico felt his stomach jump, but decided to ignore it.

'Hey guys, I didn't expect anyone to be here', Will said with a smile. 'Am I interrupting something?'

'No', answered Percy, before Nico could say anything. 'In fact, I was just leaving, I gotta meet Annabeth'. He gave Nico a knowing glance before standing up, patting him in the back and leaving.

Will smiled at him while he sat at his side.

'I got a few minutes to relax before going back to the infirmary, and I usually come here to play. Less noisy than the camp, you know? Hope you don't mind'.

'Er… no, of course, go on.'

The son of Apollo smiled at him and then drew his gaze back to his guitar, playing a few notes to check the cords were tuned before starting to play an actual melody.

Nico stared at the horizon, trying with all his might not to look at Will, but the musician attracted his eyes like a magnet, and sooner that he realized, his gaze was fixed in the son of Apollo, in the gracious movement of his hands and fingers, in his lips pouted into a thin line due to concentration, in his blue eyes under his frowned eyebrows. He stared at him almost with awe, the same way that someone looks for the first time to a wonderful piece of art, fearing even to blink. The melody was a nice background, it was soft and beautiful, relaxing, and, for a moment, nothing apart from them existed for him.

The moment lasted even after the melody was over, and Nico only snapped out of it at the right time to look at the lake so that Will wouldn't catch him staring at him. That would have been _beyond_ embarrassing.

'It was beautiful. You are very good'. Only after saying it he realized how stupid was to tell a son of the god of _music_ how good he was with an instrument, but there was no stepping back now.

'Thanks', said Will, despite how stupid Nico thought his compliment had been. 'It's one of the perks of being my father's son'.

'Do you know anything from him yet? Has the gift of prophecy came back to you or something?', Nico asked, remembering what Percy had told him about the god.

'No, nothing yet. I guess it is kinda good news, if Apollo had been severely punished, we would know, right?'

'I don't know. Maybe not'. The gods weren't exactly very communicative with their progeny, unless they wanted something from them. Then he realized he wasn't being exactly comforting and added, 'but if something really bad happened to him, we would know, sure, or at least you'd know. So don't worry, he should be fine'.

Will gave him a sad smile and Nico realized how much his father meant to his friend. Hades wasn't exactly a candidate for the father-of-the-year award and Nico had learn not to expect anything from him. He was better on his own, so he often forget how highly did other demigods think of their heavenly relative.

'Zeus was just looking for someone to blame and Apollo was the easiest target, but Artemis and the other gods will make him realize that none of this was your father's fault, you'll see.'

Will didn't answer. Now it was him who stared silently to the horizon, the gentle breeze making his golden hair dance. Nico remained silent too, but it was not an awkward silence, but a comfortable one. The kind of warm silence because no words were needed, only the company of the other person. He wasn't used to this kind of silences. The only people that he had shared silences before had been his sisters, and it was the strongest evidence of what he did not want to admit about Will.

'You know, when I first met you, I thought you were weird. Not bad weird, but good weird, you know? Like… hey, this kid is different, I would like to get to know him. Other kids… well, they were kind of afraid of you, commanding skeletons and zombies and all that, but I thought it was cool. I… I was much shier before, you know, and never really talked to you. Well, it was not only shyness, I was also sort of afraid of you. Not because of the undeads thing, more because you seemed so interesting and I was so ordinary… but when you left… I was kind of sad. I had lost my opportunity of getting to know you and I felt somewhat guilty. As if… maybe if I hadn't been so shy, we could have been friends and you wouldn't have left.'

Nico swallowed, which was difficult task enough, for someone seemed to have knotted his throat nice and tight. It was probably the first time that someone said something like that to him. The first time that someone spoke to him in terms of friendship in a sincere way. Someone other than Jason and the crew of the Argo II, but this time was different. Nico could read some sort of apology under Solace's words, as if he was trying to say "I'm sorry for not making you stay".

'That's why I told you what I told you, remember? When I saw you, my first thought was that I couldn't let you run away again, thinking that nobody here gave a crap about you, I… I had to make you stay, or at least try. I'm very glad you did, Nico di Angelo.'

Of course Nico remembered what he had told him, he held these words as a treasure. _Nobody at Camp Half-Blood ever pushed you away. You have friends – or at least people who would _like_to be your friend_. The moment hadn't been right, and his mind had surely been occupied in other things, but thinking about them later, these words had slapped him harshly. There had been even a shade of anger in the way Will had spat them out; but now he understood that he had not been crossed with him, but with himself.

Not until Will finished talking Nico actually realized how close they were, his arms almost touching. Nico's skin had recovered some color after a week of rest and food, and his aspect was much better, the circles of his eyes had diminished and he was gaining some weight, little by little. He didn't resemble anymore one of the undead zombies he commanded, but it still created a good contrast against Will's tanned skin.

He rarely had been so close to someone for so long without feeling uncomfortable, but Will's presence was easy to stand. He turned his head to look at him, and saw some freckles under his eyes that he hadn't seen before.

'And I'm glad I did. Thank you, son of Apollo', he said, and accompanied his words with a sincere smile.

Will smiled back, and Nico was distracted for a second by the shape and color of his lips, in contrast with the whiteness of his teeth. And they seemed to get closer, and to attract him at the same time. And they got closer, and closer.

Nico had already closed his eyes when he felt Will's lips against his, gentle as a caress. He tasted like sunlight, if sunlight had a taste. They were soft but strong, determined. It was a kiss not given by accident, made out of sheer purpose, but sweet and not at all invasive. Will's mouth opened and he felt the tender touch of his lips as they moved against his own. The heat exploded in his chest and extended through his body, as if he were closer to the sun itself.

He didn't know for how long it lasted, but it felt as an eternity and an ephemeral instant at the same time. They separated slowly, as if fearing regret, but Nico opened his eyes only to find Will's blue ones staring back at him, bright, warm, and welcoming. He looked at him in a way nobody had looked at him before, and he felt his whole body trembling for a second under the strength of his stare.

Finally Will looked away, deviating his gaze towards the scars on Nico's arms caused by Lycaon's pack, that he was caressing with her fingertips.

'You know, I'm pretty sure I can make them disappear'.

'I like them. I don't have to hide or remove my scars. They are a part of me'.

'You only want them to show off', Will joked with a smile, still too close to his face. 'Look, I gotta go back to the infirmary now, but we should meet here before dinner.'

'What for?', Nico asked as Will stood up.

Will winked an eye to him before picking up his guitar and answered, 'Just be here, doctor's orders'.


End file.
